HAYWARD, Calif.
-- Motorists may experience periodic delays at the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge toll plaza as Caltrans and the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) make temporary lane changes in order to install a new automated toll collection and accounting system.

During the weekend of April 20-21, 2013 the two FasTrak lanes (toll lanes #3 and #4) will be closed. FasTrak customers are advised to stay to the left and use toll lanes #1 and #2.

During weekdays, April 15-19, and April 22-26, one toll lane will be closed each day as workers complete upgrades in the remaining cash/FasTrak lanes (lanes #5 through #10). Weekday closures from April 15 to 19 primarily will affect the mini-plaza (toll lanes #8 through #10) on the right side of the bridge approach, while the weekday closures from April 22 to 26 will involve toll lanes #5 through #7 at the main toll plaza. These lanes also are accessed from the right-most approach lane on State Route 92. Each of the toll lane closures will extend for no more than 48 hours.

Following completion of the equipment installation at the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge toll plaza, contractors working for BATA, in conjunction with Caltrans staff, will perform similar work in the months ahead at the toll plazas of the Dumbarton Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. In March 2013, workers completed the installation of new toll collection equipment at the Carquinez Bridge toll plaza. Similar projects also have been completed at the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez and Richmond-San Rafael Bridge toll plazas.

BATA, which is directed by the same policy board as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), administers toll revenues from the region's state-owned toll bridges. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Caltrans owns, operates and maintains the state highway system, including seven Bay Area toll bridges.